Abdu'l-Baha: A Biblical Figure?
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Combiz Nuri, Abdu'l-Baha: A Biblical Figure?, bahai-library.com.
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'Abdu'l-Baha: A Biblical Figure?

Combiz Nuri

2009

Abstract: This paper seeks to relate the appearance of
'Abdu'l-Bahá with prophesies of the Bible.
Relying on Biblical exegeses in the Bahá'i writings, the author suggests
that `Abdu'l-Bahá was the 'seventh angel' foretold in the canonical Apocalypse,
the Book of Revelation. This view is
formulated through the identification of four distinct criteria applicable to
the 'seventh angel': firstly, chronology, secondly, association with the Book of
the Covenant, thirdly, spiritual qualifications, and fourthly,
proclamation and diffusion of the Bahá'i Faith; the unique applicability
of these criteria to `Abdu'l-Bahá is examined, and the prediction of `Abdu'l-Bahá's
Ministry in the Bible explored. The relevance
of these interpretations is discussed in the context of the unique station of
`Abdu'l-Bahá, the Bahá'i Covenant, and the contrary claims of contemporary Covenant
breakers.

Introduction

In the various Biblical exegeses expounded by
'Abdu'l-Bahá, the accurate prediction of diverse individuals and events, both
major and minor, are demonstrated
in the Bible; the appearance of Prophet Muhammad and Imam Ali, for
example, is foretold alongside the appearance of the Imamate and their major
antagonists – primarily the Umayyad Dynasty – including specific references to the 5th Caliph Muawiyah.[1],[2] Similarly, the appearance of major events including World War I are
described along­side the appearance of events on a relatively minor scale, such
as the earthquake which took place following the Martyrdom of the Báb.[3],[4]

The comprehensiveness of these exegeses
naturally invite the question of whether 'Abdu'l-Bahá himself was
foretold in the Bible; indeed, the omission of such might be considered peculiar in light of his station as the 'Center
of the Covenant', 'Interpreter of the Word of God', and 'Perfect Exemplar' of Bahá'u'lláh's
teachings.[5] In this paper,
it is suggested that `Abdu'l-Bahá
was indeed prophesized in the Bible, and that through indirect references in
his own exegeses, there emerges indications that `Abdu'l-Bahá was the 'seventh angel' described
in the canonical Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation. This view is here suggested based on four
main criteria: firstly, chronology, secondly, association with the Book
of the Covenant, thirdly, spiritual qualifications, and fourthly,
proclamation and diffusion of the Faith. These are each considered in turn below,
following an initial introduction
to the 'seventh angel'.

Identity of the 'seventh angel'

The Book of
Revelation, which is the final book of the New Testament, introduces in its
eighth chapter a series of seven angels: 'And I saw the seven angels which
stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.' (Rev 8:2). The final, or 'seventh angel', is described
in the tenth, eleventh, and sixteenth chapters, and is of particular interest
to Bahá'is insomuch as `Abdu'l-Bahá has associated the 'seventh angel' with the
proclamation and diffusion of the Bahá'i Faith.[6] The first description of this 'seventh angel'
is provided in the tenth chapter: 'And I saw
another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow
was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire.' (Rev
10:1) The
interpretation of the symbolism in this and related verses can be procured
through the application of Iqanic principles; [7]
the focus of the present paper, however, is the interrelation of existing
exegeses pertaining to the 'seventh angel'. `Abdu'l-Bahá, in his commentary on the eleventh chapter, provides the
following explanation:

The seventh
angel is a man qualified with heavenly attributes, who will arise with
heavenly qualities and character. Voices will be raised, so that the appearance
of the Divine Manifestation will be proclaimed and dif­fused. In the day of the
manifestation of the Lord of Hosts, and at the epoch of the divine cycle of the
Omnipotent which is promised and men­tioned in all the books and writings of
the Prophets–in that day of God, the Spiritual and Divine Kingdom will be
established, and the world will be renewed;[8]

In the following sections, the view that `Abdu'l-Bahá
was alluding to himself is
sug­gested based on his unique fulfillment of four
criteria derived from this and other
Biblical exegeses.

Chronology

The appearance of each
of the seven angels proceeds sequentially inter­spersed with
three woes (Rev 8-16); these three woes, `Abdu'l-Bahá explains, relate to the
appearance of specific Manifestations of God: 'The first woe is the
appearance of the Prophet, Muhammad, the son of `Abdull'áh peace be upon
Him! The second woe is that of the Báb to Him be glory and praise! The third woe is
the great day of the manifestation of the Lord of Hosts and the radiance of the
Beauty of the Promised One.'[9]

As the 'sixth angel' is described as appearing
after the first woe (Rev 9:12-­13), and the 'seventh angel' is described as
appearing after the third woe (Rev 11:14-15), a basic chronology can be
proposed: (i) first to fifth angels (ii) appearance of Prophet
Muhammed, (iii) sixth angel, (iv) appearance of the Báb, (v) appearance of Bahá'u'lláh, (vi)
seventh angel. The appearance of the 'seventh angel' after the Ministry of Bahá'u'lláh
is also consistent with the exegesis given by `Abdu'l-Bahá above. It is
suggested that a more accurate time-frame for the appearance of the 'seventh
angel' can be resolved by reference to the sixteenth chapter of the book of
revelation:

16 And he
gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

17 And the
seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice
out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

18 And there
were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake,
such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so
great.

19 And the
great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell:
and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of
the wine of the fierceness
of his wrath.

20 And every
island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

21 And there
fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a
talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the
plague thereof was exceeding
great. (Rev 16:17-21)

Speaking at Stanford University in October
1912, `Abdu'l-Bahá related
these events to the approach of World War I: [10]

We are on the
eve of the Battle of Armageddon referred to in the sixteenth chapter of
Revelation. The time is two years hence, when only a spark will set aflame
the whole of Europe. The social unrest in all countries, the growing religious
scepticism antecedent to the millennium, and already here, will set aflame
the whole of Europe as is prophesied in the Book of Daniel and in the Book
(Revelation) of John. By 1917 kingdoms will fall and cataclysms will rock the
earth. [11]

As the sixteenth chapter of the Book of
Revelation depicts these events as occurring after the 'seventh angel poured
out his vial into the air' (Rev 16:17), it can be concluded that the 'seventh angel' would 'pour out his
vial' before World War I. Taken together
with the aforementioned appearance of the 'seventh angel' after the Ministry of
Bahá'u'lláh, this would suggest a very narrow window of 22 years,
between 1892 and 1914, for this prophecy relating to the 'seventh angel' to be
fulfilled; thus chronologically, the seventh angel was active during the
Third Epoch of the Heroic Age (1892-1921), therefore implicating the Ministry
of `Abdu'l-Bahá.

This view is
also consistent with the indication that the 'seventh angel' would appear
before 'that day of God, [when] the Spiritual and Divine Kingdom will be
established, and the world will be renewed'.[12] These words closely match `Abdu'l-Bahá's exegesis
of Daniel 12:12, where the year 1963 is foretold as the time when 'the
teachings of God be firmly established upon the earth, and the Divine Light
shall flood the world from the East even unto the West';[13]
the Guardian emphasized that these were references to occurrences 'within the
Faith, not occurrences outside the Faith', and were fulfilled with the Ten-Year
Crusade (1953-1963).[14] In summary, three main chronological indications
are associated with the 'seventh angel': (i) appearance after the Ministry of Bahá'u'lláh
in 1892, (ii) active before World War I in 1914, and (iii) active before the
Ten-Year Crusade from 1953-1963. These considerations
are suggestive of `Abdu'l-Bahá as the 'seventh angel'. This interpretation finds further support in
three additional criteria described below.

Association
with the Book of the Testament

Describing the 'seventh angel', the tenth
chapter of the Book of Revelation prophesises: 'And he had in his hand a little
book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the
earth,' (Rev 10:2). Although an exegesis
of the tenth chapter of the Book of Revelation is not present in any available Bahá'i
Writings, there is some overlap between this chapter and the eleventh chapter, for which an
exegesis by `Abdu'l-Bahá is extant. This enables the identity of the 'little
book' to be suggested by reference to Revelation 11:19: ­'And the temple of God
was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his
testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an
earthquake, and great hail.' (Rev 11:19) This verse also overlaps with Revelation 16:18 above, and in both cases is
associated intimately with the 'seventh angel'. `Abdu'l-Bahá provides the following explanation
of this verse:

And there was
seen in His temple the ark of His Testament that is to say, the Book of His
Testament will appear in His Jerusalem, the Epistle of the Covenant will be
established, and the meaning of the Testament and of the Covenant will become
evident. The renown of God will overspread the East and West, and the
proclamation of the Cause of God will fill the world. The violators of
the Covenant will be degraded and dispersed, and the faithful cherished and
glorified, for they cling to the Book of the Testament and are firm
and steadfast in the Covenant. And there were lightnings, and voices, and
thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail, meaning that after the
appearance of the Book of the Testament there will be a great storm, and the
lightnings of the anger and the wrath of God will flash, the noise of the
thunder of the violation of the Covenant will resound, the earthquake of doubts
will take place, the hail of torments will beat upon the violators of the
Covenant, and even those who profess belief will fall into trials and
temptations.[15]

The Book of the Testament (also known as the
Book of the Covenant, or the Kitab-­i-'Ahd), was the Will and Testament of Bahá'u'lláh,
wherein `Abdu'l-Bahá was ap­pointed as his successor.[16]
The 'violation of the Covenant' in relation to this book pertains primarily to
the half brother of `Abdu'l-Bahá, Muhammed Ali, who disputed the leadership of `Abdu'l-Bahá
shortly after Bahá'u'llah's ascension in 1892, and who died in 1937 with his
claims dismissed by the vast majority
of the Bahá'i community; indeed, his support had 'faded into insignificance' by
the time of `Abdu'l-Bahá's journeys to the West in 1910.[17] Therefore,
disputes over the Kitab-i-`Ahd described in this exegesis were confined
almost entirely to the Ministry of `Abdu'l-Bahá, which supports the chronology outlined
in the first criterion. The relation of these events to the 'seventh angel'
inferred from the above exegesis suggests that the identity of the 'little
book' was the Kitab-i-`Ahd, through which `Abdu'l-Bahá was invested with his authority, and that the 'seventh
angel' was `Abdu'l-Bahá himself.

Heavenly
attributes, qualities, and character

`Abdu'l-Bahá described
the 'seventh angel' as a 'man qualified with heavenly
attributes, who will arise with heavenly qualities and character'.[18] Although the Bahá'i writings emphasize the development
of heavenly attributes, qualities, and character in the life of every
individual, it would be erroneous to draw any comparison between the heavenly
qualifications of the individual believer and those of `Abdu'l-Bahá, to whom
this description most aptly applies. The
distinction is so vast, that in relation to Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá, the
Guardian declared himself 'infinitely inferior to both of them in rank and
different in nature'.[19] Speaking on the unique distinctions of `Abdu'l-Bahá,
the Guardian wrote:

He alone had
been accorded the privilege of being called 'the Master,' an honor from which
His Father had strictly excluded all His other sons. Upon Him that loving and
unerring Father had chosen to confer the unique title of 'Sirru'lláh' (the
Mystery of God), a designation so appropriate to One Who, though essentially
human and holding a station radically and fundamentally different from that occupied by Bahá'u'lláh
and His Fore­runner, could still claim to be the perfect Exemplar of His Faith,
to be endowed with super-human knowledge, and to be regarded as the stainless mirror reflecting
His light. To Him, whilst in Adrianople, that same Father had, in the
Suriy-i-Ghusn (Tablet of the Branch), referred as 'this sacred and glorious
Being, this Branch of Holiness,' as 'the Limb of the Law of God,' as His 'most
great favor' unto men, as His 'most perfect bounty' conferred upon them, as One
through Whom 'every mouldering bone is quickened,' declaring that 'whoso
turneth towards Him hath turned to­wards God,' and that 'they who deprive
themselves of the shadow of the Branch are lost in the wilderness of error. [20]

The belief that `Abdu'l-Bahá would remain
entirely unparalleled as the perfect exem­plar of His Father's teachings, and
that there could be none so qualified as `Abdu'l-Bahá in 'heavenly
attributes' and 'heavenly qualities and character', was further emphasized by
the Guardian:

No Guardian of
the Faith, I feel it my solemn duty to place on record, can ever claim to be
the perfect exemplar of the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh or the
stainless mirror that reflects
His light ... [the Guardian] remains essentially human and cannot, if he wishes to
remain faithful to his trust, arrogate to himself, under any pretense
whatsoever, the rights, the privileges and prerogatives which Bahá'u'lláh has chosen
to confer upon His Son.[21]

Voices will be
raised

An additional description of the 'seventh angel' provided by `Abdu'l-Bahá refers to his
activities: 'Voices will be raised, so that the appearance of the Divine
Manifestation will be proclaimed and diffused.'[22]
As with other quotes from the Some Answered Questions compila­tion, these words
were recorded in interviews with `Abdu'l-Bahá during the years 1904-1906, when he
remained confined to Akka as a prisoner.[23]
This description can
therefore be interpreted as prophetic of his own approaching
liberty and subsequent three-year world-wide teaching campaign beginning in 1910.
In Egypt,
Europe, and North America, `Abdu'l-Bahá 'proclaimed and diffused' His Father's teachings and
the Bahá'i Faith was promulgated in the West at diverse gatherings, including
churches, universities, and homes, and was widely reported in hundreds of
newspapers.[24]
Writing on the
achievements of `Abdu'l-Bahá, the Guardian wrote:

Through His
unremitting labors, as reflected in the treatises He composed, the
thousands of Tablets He revealed, the discourses He delivered, the prayers,
poems and commentaries He left to posterity, mostly in Persian, some in Arabic
and a few in Turkish, the laws and principles, constituting the warp and woof
of His Father's Revelation, had been elucidated, its fundamentals restated and
interpreted, its tenets given detailed applica­tion and the validity and
indispensability of its verities fully and publicly demonstrated. [25]

This
criterion of 'proclamation and diffusion of the Faith' might be said to apply to
any teacher of the Bahá'i Faith; for example, writing in 1954, the Guardian
made specific mention of a range of outstanding Bahá'i teachers: Marion Jack, Martha
Root, Lua Getsinger, May Maxwell, Hyde Dunn, Susan Moody, Keith Ransom-Kehler,
Ella Bailey and Dorothy Baker;[26]
however, these individuals were often contemporaneous with `Abdu'l-Bahá, and
even directly inspired by him after attending his various talks – as was the
case with Martha Root, whom the Guardian acclaimed as the 'archetype of Bahá'i
teachers'.[27]
Therefore, it can be suggested that this
criterion, though applicable to Bahá'i teachers in general, applies more fully
to `Abdu'l-Bahá, whose example inspired the methods and activities of all
Bahá'i teachers.

Discussion

In the present paper, it is suggested that the
'seventh angel' foretold in the Bible was fulfilled in `Abdu'l-Bahá. This conclusion
arises from four main interpreta­tions: (i) Biblical chronology, supported with
the exegeses of `Abdu'l-Bahá , indicating that the time-frame for the appearance
of the 'seventh angel' would be after the Ministry of Bahá'u'lláh, before World
War I, and before the Ten-Year Crusade, (ii) association between the 'seventh
angel' and contention relating to the Kitab-i-`Ahd, which was largely confined
to the Ministry of `Abdu'l-Bahá, (iii) congruence between `Abdu'l-Bahá and the
description that the 'seventh angel' is 'qualified with heavenly
attributes' and 'heavenly qualities and character', and (iv) alignment between
`Abdu'l-Bahá 's world-teaching campaign and the description that 'Voices will
be raised, so that the appearance of the Divine Manifes­tation will be
proclaimed and diffused.'

One question which arises naturally from this
interpretation is why `Abdu'l-Bahá would make only allusion to His fulfillment
of these prophecies, rather than declaring it overtly? On this question we can but
speculate. One clue can be found in the preface to Some Answered Questions,
where Laura Clifford Barney
writes 'In these lessons, He is the teacher adapting Himself to His pupil', and
in a similar strain, 'the teachings were made simple, to correspond to my
rudimentary knowledge, and are therefore in no way complete and exhaustive'.[28]
The possibility that his exegeses were tailored to the needs and capacity of his
'pupils' are suggested in other sources too; for example, Madame Bernard
remarked 'The greatest proof of the Master's station is his intimate perception
of the need and capacity of each one who comes to him.'[29]
Other considerations may also apply. Perhaps this was an expression of his
great humility, and/or he considered it a potential distraction from his Father's teachings;
indeed, one can easily imagine what reaction and distraction might have been
provoked during his teaching campaigns to the West had the matter been widely
reported.

The topic of the 'seventh angel' is also
pertinent to the Covenant, insomuch as a section of Covenant breakers have
found scope within `Abdu'l-Bahá's exegesis to declare the door wide open to
claiming 'seventh angelhood', thus leveraging their misplaced claims for
leadership. The belief that no less than three chapters of a Book in the New Testament refers
to themselves has already proven an insatiable prospect for victims of egotism
and vainglory. Recent examples of individuals claiming the designation 'seventh
angel' include Lelend Jensen from the covenant-breaking group 'Bahái's under
the provision of the covenant',[30]
and the self-titled 'Maitreya' from the 'Mission of Maitreya' who has not only
found scope within the exegesis of `Abdu'l-Bahá to claim 'seventh angelhood', but
also to claim authorship of Divine Revelation, in clear violation of the thousand-year
injunction of Bahá'u'lláh [31],[32];
it seems reasonable to predict that further examples will emerge in the future.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, `Abdu'l-Bahá, who – it
has been herein suggested – was the only realistic candidate for the 'seventh
angel', was seemingly disinclined from even making mention of it. This, it
would appear, is another demonstration of the Bahá'i ideal of self-effacement in action; as `Abdu'l-Bahá affirmed
in reference to the Tablet of the Branch, [33]
'the true meaning, the real significance, the innermost secret of these verses,
of these very words, is my own servitude to the sacred Threshold of the Abha
Beauty, my complete self-effacement, my utter nothingness before Him. This is
my resplendent crown, my most precious adorning. On this I pride myself in the
kingdom of earth and heaven. Therein I glory among the company of the
well-favored!'[34]

Notes

[1] `Abdul-Bahá, and Barney, Laura Clifford. Some answered
questions / collected and tr. from the Persian of `Abdu'l-Bahá by Laura
Clifford Barney (Bahái Pub. Committee, Wilmette, Ill. : 1947; hereinafter SAQ)
47-52 – (SAQ 47-52)

[2]
Balyuzi, H. M. Muhammad and the course of Islam (George
Ronald, Oxford, England, 1976), 168-191 – (Balyuzi, Muhammad 168-191)

[3]
SAQ 54

[4]
John E. Esslemont, Bahá'u'lláh and the
New Era (rev. 4th edn., London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1980) 243. – (Esslemont, Bahá'u'lláh 243)

[5]
Effendi, Shoghi. The World Order of
Bahá''u''lláh (Wilmette IL: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1955; hereafter
WOB), 136-138 – (WOB 136-138)

[6]
SAQ 56

[7]
Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb i Íqán, the
Book of Certitude (trans. Shoghi Effendi, 2nd edn., Wilmette, IL: Bahá'í
Publishing Trust, 1974). – (Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán)

[8]
SAQ 55-56

[9]
Ibid 56

[10]
Stephen Lambden, 'Catastrophe, Armageddon and Millennium: some
aspects of the Bábí -Bahá'í exegesis of apocalyptic symbolism', Bahá'í Studies Review 9 (1999-2000) 88 –
(Lambden, 'Catastrophe' 88)

[11]
Esslemont, Bahá'u'lláh 243

[12]
SAQ 55-56

[13]
Helen Hornby, Lights of Guidance. (New Delhi: Bahá'í
Publishing Trust, 3rd edn., 1994) 431 – (Lights
of Guidance 431)

[14]
ibid 432

[15]
SAQ 60

[16]
>Bahá'u'lláh.
Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas
(Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1994; hereinafter TB), 15:219-223
– (TB 15:219-223)

[17]
Momen, Moojan. The Covenant and Covenant-breaker (Bahá'í Library Online, 2003, accessed
November 10, 2009) – (Momen, 'The
Covenant')

[18]
SAQ 55-56

[19]
WOB 151

[20]
Effendi, Shoghi. God Passes By / introduction by George
Townshend (Illinois Bahá'i
Pub. Otee., 1945), 242 – (Effendi, God
Passes By 242)

[21]
WOB 151

[22]
SAQ 55-56

[23]
Balyuzi, H.M.
`Abdu'l-Bahá: The Centre of the Covenant
of Bahá'u'lláh (Paperback ed., Oxford, UK: George Ronald, 2001), 82 – (Balyuzi,
'The Centre' 82)

[24]
Esslemont, Bahá'u'lláh 59-60

[25]
Effendi, God Passes By 314

[26]
Effendi, Shoghi. Citadel of faith;
messages to America, 1947-1957 (Wilmette, Ill., Bahá'í Pub. Trust, 1965),
165 – (Effendi, Citadel of Faith 165)

[27]
Effendi, God Passes By 344

[28]
SAQ xvii-xviii

[29]
Chamberlain, Isabel Fraser, `Abdu'l-Bahá
on Divine Philosophy (Tudor Press, 1918)

[30]
Stone, Jon R. Expecting Armageddon,
Essential Readings in Failed Prophecy (New York: Routledge,
2000), 131-135 – (Stone, Expecting
Armageddon 131-135)

[31] 'Maitreya', Holiest of the Holies (Thoth) – the Last
Testament (7th edition, Eternal Divine Path, The Mission of
Maitreya, 1982), 563 – (Maitreya, Thoth
563)

[32] Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Most
Holy Book (trans.
Bahá'i World Centre, Haifa, 1992), 32 – (Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas 32)

[33]
The Tablet of
the Branch, or the Súrih-i-Ghusn,
was a tablet by Bahá'u'lláh
which confirmed the very high station of Abdu'l-Bahá ('the Branch of Holiness')

[34]
WOB 138

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-- Abdu'l-Baha: A Biblical Figure? (Used by permission of the curator)